15 Biggest BURIALS Wrestlers Never Recovered From
10. Mustafa Ali (By Brock Lesnar)
We'll never know if Mustafa Ali might have gotten over as WWE's genuine next breakout star had he won the 2019 Elimination Chamber and gone on to WrestleMania 35 to dethrone Daniel Bryan, as was the mooted plan following his pinfall win over Bryan on a December 2018 edition of SmackDown that kicked off an unlikely run to the gold on the 'Grandest Stage'.
A head injury resulted in Kofi Kingston taking his place the taking the incredible 'KofiMania' push, but wrestling has a funny way of coming back around for talent that might have felt wronged by the circumstances that befell them in the past. Ali looked set to become a beneficiary of the phenomenon at Money In The Bank in the summer. There, he was back on track and a major sentimental favourite to the increasing number of fans going to buildings that had a full grasp of what was happening behind the scenes. He was less beloved by Vince McMahon, who still only really had eyes for one major star.
In an indicative and of-the-time troll heat move, Brock Lesnar hit the ring as Ali had the briefcase in his hands. Rather than unhooking it and getting out of dodge, former Cruiserweight Champion was forced to fearfully freeze on the spot and await his ass-kicking from 'The Beast'. He performed his duties as instructed and was promptly despatched alongside the rest of the broken bodies as Lesnar climbed the ladder, snatched the case and went on to cash in two months later.
Fooled once and too burned to buy in on Ali again, audiences gradually stopped fighting for the his cause thanks to this latest burial, and he never got near the gold again ahead of his eventual release several years later.